Desmond Tutu: God makes me fight for gay rights

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I just wish there were more like you in the Anglican Church…I pray God will bless you with many more years to continue your influence in the world…You are a blessing Bishop. And me(from Canada) wish you health and happiness…

Well said. The man is either a complete hypocrite or mad. How come “his god” is saying different things to him than he does to other of his followers, or even in that book that he supposedly wrote? What nonsense!

That is true, but while there are still viscous homophobes within the religious and political institutions, support from someone like Mr. Tutu is invaluable.

When you have Tutu and the Pope coming out and saying it’s not cool to judge gay people, that leaves it much harder for the lower ranks to justify their own judgement when someone calls them out on it in future

The Pope (not sure about Tutu’s stance) does judge gay people though. He judges their sexuality. He condemns same sex love. He wants gays to live as celibates, life long virgins like himself, or a mixed sex marriage. I hardly call that a non-judgement, supportive stance. Rather a sly, deceiving agenda of a dying church.
Can’t speak for Tutu because I don’t know where he stands on such issues.

…and why do you suppose that is? Is it because the hatred they spew forth is really driven by SELF hatred … for having had gay thoughts? It is my experience (extensive) in these matters that the more homophobic someone is, the more likely it is that they are struggling with same-sex attraction and the ‘conditioing’ of their religion. People who are comfortable in their sexuality are NEVER homophobic.

Tosh. People can be comfortable in their sexuality and be anything. People can be uncomfortable in their sexuality and be straight and then resent others who are comfortable. You are too comfortable with gormless generalisations.

Desmond Tutu is to be admired for his stance on gay rights which is in sharp contrast to so many of his fellow religionists, but of course the existence of his deity is very much in doubt, let alone whether he or she is gay-friendly.
As to the pope, he may have made some seemingly gay-friendly noises of late, but when is he going to reverse the official hostile Catholic stance on homosexuality which is clearly stated in its Catechism?

A giant of a man who was very courageous during the long struggle against apartheid. I believe he is not just saying this for now but also for the future so that when he dies his words will be part of his continued legacy.

I doubt that Tutu is a devout Christian. He talks about religion and God but never mentions the God of creation and of mankind, Jesus Christ. Tutu is another promoter of religious following that has no depth. He’s just another leader who’s making $$$ promoting his beliefs, all without substance. The world is filled with these kinds of people.
You need substance if you want to know the love, peace and forgiveness that only Jesus Christ can give — not just another religious character. This guy is no different than any other promoter of his belief system. Won’t get you into heaven, which I don’t think this guy is going anyway.

You are so convinced of your own correctness aren’t you ? Tutu exudes Christ-like qualities whereas your contribution demonstrates your own pride, arrogance and self-righteousness – the very things which Jesus condemned so strongly. Who am I to judge what will become of him or even you….

Hey Graham, I checked out Tutu, “Tutu’s admirers see him as a man who since the demise of apartheid has been active in the defence of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed, though his consistent opposition to Israel and the United States has made him controversial.
Tutu says he reads the Bible every day and recommends that people read it as a collection of books, not a single constitutional document: “You have to understand is that the Bible is really a library of books and it has different categories of material,” he said. “There are certain parts which you have to say no to. The Bible accepted slavery. St Paul said women should not speak in church at all and there are people who have used that to say women should not be ordained. There are many things that you shouldn’t accept.”
Tutu is just a promoter of his own style of beliefs mixed with various mystical pronouncements. In some ways he acts like a religious gadfly

Rehan.. .You have to study not just read the Bible.
John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” When we look at the Jews’ reaction to His statement, “For a good work we stone thee not; replied the Jews, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” (John 10:33). Jesus never corrects the Jews by saying, “I did not claim to be God.” That indicates Jesus was truly saying He was God by declaring, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
John 1:1 says that “the Word was God.” John 1:14 says that “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” This clearly indicates that Jesus is God in the flesh.
Acts 20:28 tells us, “…Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.” Who bought the church with His own blood? Jesus Christ. Acts 20:28
“In the beginning was the Word, . . . All things were made by Him; . . . and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:1,3,10).

Hey Rehan, my above comment wouldn’t take all my words. Most people don’t know that in the Trinity, The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit are God, as will be seen when you actually study the Bible and read the entire context where each of the Trinity is mentioned. It’s a mystery that the human mind cannot comprehend, and it’s revelation has to come from God to believers only.
About Tutu, there are all kinds of “Christians” but not all of them follow Jesus Christ and that’s why there are so many religions. Until Tutu states that Jesus Christ is God, Tutu is simply preaching his own religion and leading many people with a false doctrine straight to hell. Tutu doesn’t have to be concerned about any kind of heaven, because he won’t be there after he dies.

Rehan, you said, ” of course, only foolish people wo
uld claim to know thoroughly books they’ve only read in translation.”

I think your knowledge and worldview of history is non-existent. Do you accept the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Ancient Egyptian writings, Mayan history, Confucianism, Greek Cultural and Philosophy, etc. even Hitler’s Mien Kampf (written in German) — the history of civilization is written from the original forms of communication and were translated by experts..

I believe your stupidity shows when you made your statement originally,

Why do think people study ancient languages if not to give us insight to past history. You should read something better than trashy novels.

I don’t share Tutu’s religious beliefs in any way but he has tried to live up them by his own lights, acted with respect and generosity to those of other beliefs, and shown dazzling courage against an oppressive political system. I’ll take him over your sneering contemptible dogmatism about ‘Jesus’ any time. Have a nice day.

God never said that, humans did. Sure, the Bible might be called the “Word of God”, but it was written by humans, and as I’m sure everyone must know by now, humans are flawed. Don’t go quoting Leviticus to justify a generalised view (that goes for both Christians and non-Christians!)

genuinly thought that the comments about this would be about how great his support is, but no people cant look past the fact that hes religious, i stand here asking why he even bothers with his support when people will judge him because of his faith, im a deist and gay, does that make me some kind of lesser gay because i believe in a god?

It’s not the fact that he’s religious (though that makes him irrational in the view of many of us); it’s the fact that he subscribes to and gives support to the very faith which is responsible for the demonisaton of gay people in modern society. Because he is a man of liberal principles, he pretends that “his god” is progressive and liberal as well, but that is certainly not the god of the Bible. He can wish it as hard as he likes, but it doesn’t make it so!

“though that makes him irrational in the view of many of us” does that make me irrational aswell, i mean im not christian but i do believe in a god, you dont know my reasons for it, but according to alot of people here if the lowest of the low, So basically im right you cant look past one aspect of his life and focus on the good hes doing, what ever you think of his faith he knows it better then anyone and he knows what he believes in, but ive got christian friends who support LGBT rights should i ask them to stop because it goes against there religion????
oh and im still wondering because i believe in a god am i some kind of lesser gay?

Does that make you irrational? Do you make claims on behalf of your god? If you start stating what your god likes and dislikes, then yes, I believe so. If you’re a deist, I don’t think you would. Deists don’t believe in personal gods in that way. I’m an outspoken atheist, but only on matters of social and political views, where theists demand special privileges based solely on what their gods deem worthy/unworthy/moral and immoral etc. A personal belief in a deity, and nothing more, neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my bones. And other than disagreeing with you on the existence of said deity, I have nothing to say about your beliefs.
And it will stay that way until you try to dictate my life based on those beliefs.

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